Hazelnut Cultivation in the Campania Region: Environmental Sustainability of the Recovery of Pruning Residues and Shells through the Life Cycle Assessment Methodology

Maria Pergola, Angela Maffia (), Antonietta Picone, Assunta Maria Palese, Gessica Altieri and Giuseppe Celano
Additional contact information
Maria Pergola: Degree Course of Agriculture, Dipartimento di Farmacia, Università degli Studi di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano, Italy
Angela Maffia: PhD School, Mediterranea University, 89124 Reggio Calabria, Italy
Antonietta Picone: Degree Course of Agriculture, Dipartimento di Farmacia, Università degli Studi di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano, Italy
Assunta Maria Palese: Ages s.r.l.s., 85100 Potenza, Italy
Gessica Altieri: Degree Course of Agriculture, Dipartimento di Farmacia, Università degli Studi di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano, Italy
Giuseppe Celano: Degree Course of Agriculture, Dipartimento di Farmacia, Università degli Studi di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano, Italy

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 17, 1-26

Abstract: Promoting sustainable agriculture is one of the challenges of our century. Thus, this research aimed to estimate the environmental sustainability of hazelnut cultivation in the Campania region (Southern Italy), both in quantitative and economic terms, by estimating the social cost of the pollution. The evaluation of the recovery of pruning residues and shells, from a circular economy perspective, represents the novelty of this paper. The lifecycle assessment methodology was used to analyze and compare twenty-one hazelnut systems that are very different from each other. The results showed that the impacts per kg of unshelled hazelnuts varied among the systems, depending on the impact category considered, and with respect to climate change, the lowest value was 0.32 kg CO 2 eq (in BIO4 system), while the highest was 2.48 kg CO 2 eq (in INT8 system). Moreover, organic management was more environmentally friendly for almost all impact categories, and ordinary cultivation techniques were the most impactful. Cultivation on embankments or terraced soils had a greater impact when compared to flat soils, especially due to the greater fuel consumption during farm–field transport. Emergency irrigation did not cause an increase in impact if the overall management was sustainable. In economic terms, the total cost of pollution of the agricultural phase varied from a minimum of EUR 0.11 per kg of hazelnuts to a maximum of EUR 0.70. Post-harvest operations up to vacuum packaging did not make any systems more impactful than others since their agricultural management was more sustainable than many others. In accordance with the objectives of the European Green Deal, the recovery of pruning material and shells on farms has proven to be very important for reducing impacts, especially if they are used to replace methane and diesel oil, hence the importance of pursuing this research to make hazelnut cultivation ever more sustainable.

Keywords: Corylus avellana; agricultural residue recovery; environmental impacts; sustainable development; pollution costs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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